DRK i'd Junk-o

I got to see a new bird in our backyard this evening. I had meetings downtown this afternoon, and when things were finished there, it was too late to take my Metro train back out to where my car was parked and then drive back to the office - so I drove straight home from the Landover Station. At the beginning of last month I figured out how to use the hands-free feature in my car, so I can do some work calls while commuting - as of October 1, the Maryland law went into effect that disallows use of hand-held cell phones while driving. When I got home

and stepped out of the car, I was welcomed to the chirping of a northern cardinal - a male was in the top of the cherry tree in the front yard, his bright red coat contrasted against the dark gray clouded sky. After taking off my coat and tie, and placing my ID badge on the table next to the front door, I looked out the patio sliding glass door at the feeder to see if there was any bird action going on (1). There were three house finches jockying for position on the feeder. Just then a few darkish colored birds swooped into the yard, with one lighting on the gravel path. I had a pretty good idea of what general kind of bird it was, so a quick look at my copy of Peterson's A Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America confirmed what I though: a dark-eyed junco. A description of this junco that is similar to the Oregon junco we were familiar with back home in Corvallis can be found by clicking at the U.S. Geological Survey Website here. When the birds swooped into the yard, their flight pattern was different from the other more regular frequenting species we see. The question for today is whether there were just passing through, or will be new regulars to our yard this winter. The dark-eyed juncos are widespread across much of the United States during the winter.
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(1) Did I ever mention that I can be a very dull blogger? Definition of dull found by clicking here.